


Distress Signals

by orphan_account



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Cuddles, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-28 04:37:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10823898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Marco finds himself under pressure as exam season approaches.





	Distress Signals

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place before Starcrushed. Perhaps a bit unrealistic, but so it goes.

Try as he might, Marco could not force Ms. Skullnik’s study guide to make sense. Another man would have given up, consulted the book of Khan Academy, and then promptly forgotten everything. But this was Marco Diaz, and he was determined to secure his place on the honor roll. This was despite already having a high enough grade in her class that he could literally skip her final and pass with an A. If there was one thing he was good at, it was stressing over nothing.  
He sighed and tried to start again at the beginning. Simple, simple, simple. It all made sense, and then the word “Trigonometry” appeared, and nothing made sense anymore. The rules broke down. It was as though he was trying to read his history textbook but from chapter 10 onwards it was written in French. Every time he thought he understood it, he received another B quiz grade (an unspeakable shame for Marco). Every time he thought he understood it, Skullnik said something that directly contradicted the notes, or the textbook said something different, or he followed the rules perfectly and got the question wrong. It was infuriating, and stressful and-  
“Hey Marco, how’s it goin’?” for the trillionth time since the announcement first came of her arrival, Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension, had interrupted Marco’s focus. It wasn’t all her fault, of course. She hadn’t even been there a whole school year, surely she wouldn’t know how important finals were? How much good grades mattered to Marco? It was all just another silly piece of paper to her, and when she went home to Mewni, none of those failed tests or 0 grades would matter. She’d just ascend to the throne, and that’d be that.  
That was a depressing thought. One day, this colorful firestorm of adventure, with her whimsical spells, and her indominable energy would disappear back to her home, leaving Marco stuck here on Earth. Then he would stress his way through college, and getting a job, and maybe marry someone, be it Jackie or someone else, and then live the “American Dream” with his family, and not once along the path would he meet someone like Star ever again. Marco began to wonder what that day would look like, when Star finally left. How would he feel about her, years down the line? Would he be able to let go?  
Out loud, he said “Well, Skullnik’s exam is tomorrow, and I have to get a good grade on it and all, so I guess…” Marco trailed off. He wanted to tell Star that he was frustrated and miserable and lonely and wanted nothing more than to do something with Star, if for no other reason than to get his mind off the dreaded exam. But what he said was “…it makes sense for me to spend a lot of time on it, right?”  
“I guess…” It was Star’s turn to trail off. Her disappointment was visible in her body and on her face, and for a moment she just stood there. But then she seemed to control herself, and move slowly towards the door.  
“Star, wait.” Marco stood up suddenly, dropping the study guide. He let if all to the floor. For several seconds he stood there, searching for the right thing to say. At length, Star broke the silence.  
“Marco…?” she began. “Is everything ok?” The silence seemed to deepen. It hung like a heavy woolen blanket in the air for several seconds in the air, suffocating Marco’s thoughts and weighing upon him, such that he felt immobile. He knew he should say something, yet nothing came forth from his mouth. His thoughts refused to convert from impulses in his brain to waves of moving air particles.  
“Y’know…if that exam thing is stressing you out, we could always get outta here and do something else.” Star’s energy returned in a heartbeat. “Come on!” she said, animated now as she usually was. “There’s this dimension I’ve been meaning to show you where…” and so on. Marco couldn’t disturb the moment with his stupid worries. He couldn’t forgive himself for what might happen if he started laying his stupid burdens on Star. He resolved to forget it.  
Star could tell something was wrong as soon as they got there. Marco still seemed stressed, and even as she tried to take his mind of the stupid exam, his behavior seemed markedly different. He of course said he was fine, but that was Marco for you. Never wanting others to worry about him when he could worry about everyone and still find time to make excellent nachos. Sometimes, though, she knew he needed her to worry about him. Otherwise he might start getting the way he did where he thought no one loved him and nothing mattered.  
Fifteen minutes in, the teens sat in awkward silence, each occupied, ironically, with thoughts of the other. Marco sat with his knees to his face, arms resting on them, most of his face and body obscured. Star lay on her back, modeling for Marco how one should be on this dimension, yet her attention was drawn more to the boy than the sky. Each sat like this for what felt like eons until at length, Star began again. “Marco?”  
There was a quiet “Yeah Star?”  
“You’re still not ok, are you?”  
Marco immediately jumped to end this line of questioning. “Me? No, I’m fine Star. This really…got my mind off things…heh…heh…” It was a sorry attempt, but Marco kept going. “Not worrying about that stupid exam, right? You really…saved me there.” Marco’s arm moved from his knees to clutch the back of his head. His shoulders moved further up, as though he was trying to hide my pulling his entire body into his chest.  
Marco felt a hand on his back and realized Star had sat up. “Except you’re not, are you? You’re not ok, I can tell. Your body’s all crumpled up and huddled together, like you get when you have that thing where you think you don’t matter to anyone. The thing where you try to stop yourself from “hurting” anyone? Only, it hurts me more to see you like this than anything else in the world. No matter how many scary minions or dark spells Ludo throws at us, losing you is always my biggest fear Marco, whether it be to some crazed monster or to yourself.”  
Marco’s other hand fell from his knees as he turned to face the princess, who was now right next to him, her arm tightly around his back. “The thing is Star…that’s what I’m afraid of too…” he began. “I mean one of these days we’re gonna be all grown up, and you’re gonna have to go back to Mewni and be queen, and I’m gonna have to do all that stupid ‘American Dream’ stuff so I can construct a life that maybe resembles the one I’ve been told to want, with the family and the house and the car and the job. I’ll build a life that makes sense out of things I find in gift shops and things I see on TV and things I read in books and then when I’m old enough to relax, they’ll congratulate me on it all. But the thing is, I’ve realized I don’t want that. The past few months with you haven’t made any sense. They haven’t had to. It’s been fun, free, and amazing with you, and it’s all gonna end, and then you’ll go home and I’ll stay here, and things will go like they’re supposed to and¬-” Marco felt something welling up in his eyes. He was vaguely aware of tears beginning to move down his face. That thought would have to wait, it seemed. He cursed himself for being so vulnerable. It would only hurt the both of them, in the end.  
But Star was unconvinced. Rather than leaving the crying mess of nerves and bundled up emotions as he was, she held on tighter, and began to cradle his head in her arms. She knew Marco had some issues and all, but had never seen it like this. It was all she could do to keep her composure at the sight of him broken like this. But of course, if she lost herself too, they’d never get anywhere.  
“You don’t know that Marco! When I’m queen, I can visit you all the time. And that’s assuming you still live here by then.” Here Marco gave her an odd look, and she knew she shouldn’t have said that. “I-I mean anything could happen, right? Maybe you’ll meet a nice girl on Mewni who’s into you, and you…” Star never had a way with words. She just sort of let them come, and only cared if they screwed up. Staring at the ground now, she felt heavy shame. She had screwed up again. Now it was Marco’s turn to break the silence.  
“Star…” The crown-princess of felt Marco finally emerge from the shell he had constructed around himself. Looking up, she saw he was blushing profusely, and the tears were no longer flowing from his face. A smile had somehow found its home on his face. “I-I think maybe I already have…”  
Now it was Star’s turn to blush. Marco turned to face her, and let his legs relax. And then the realization hit him. “I mean, I-I-I mean-”  
Star didn’t let him finish that thought. She put her lips on his, and removed any of Marco’s words.


End file.
